Game device.



PATENTED MAR. 3, 1903.

' J L. HOLMSTROM.

GAME DEVICE. APPLIOTION FILED NOV. 6, 1902."

N0 MODEL WITNESSES:

INVENTIOR TTORN EY$ 'mz' uonms wzrzns ca. mom-Lang. WASHINGTON, n. c

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN L. HOLMSTROM, OF NEW YORK, N.. Y.

GAME DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 721,953, dated March 8, 1903. Application filed November 6, 1902. Serial No. 130,218. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN L. HOLMSTROM, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the borough of Manhattan and State time as well as to gain physical exercise, to

secure a game which calls for skill and manual dexterity, and to obtain other advantages and results, some of which will be hereinafter referred to in connection with the description of the working parts.

The invention consists in the improved game device and in the arrangements and combinations of parts of the same, all substantially as will be hereinafter set forth, and finally embraced in the clauses of the claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,in which like numerals of reference indicate corresponding partsin each of the several figures, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of my improved device. Fig. 2 is a cross-section on line m, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an end view of the mouth of the device. Fig. 4: is a longitudinal section of a certain modification of con-- struction. Fig. 5illustrates in longitudinal section another modified construction, and Fig. 6 is an end view of the mouth thereof.

In said drawings, 2 indicates a tube, which in the preferred construction is tapered and is in practice made two feet, more or less, long, being open at both ends. Said tube may be of any suitable light material, such as paper, pasteboard, tin, or the like. The smaller end of said tube forms a handle 3 to be grasped by the player and the larger end is adapted to receive a ball 4, preferably of hard rubber, used in playing, and which is adapted to pass half-way, more or less, down through the tube. To form a bottom for the ball to rest against when in the tube, a concaved plate 5, having an exteriorly-threaded stem 6, fixed upon the end of a handle-rod '7, having at its extremity a finger-piece 8, is provided. Said plate 5 and threaded stem 6 are preferably of wood in one integral piece, and the latter works in the threaded aperture of a cross plate or spider 9, fixed in the tube. The small end of the handle-rod 7 is guided by a similar spider 16. p

In playing the game the tube 2 is held in the players hand and the ball thrown out of the'same to the other player, who is supposed to catch it in his tube and then throw it back again. It is necessary, therefore, that the ball engage the sides of the tube with sufficient friction to hold it from dropping or bouncing out again, and yet easily enough to permit it to be thrown out. This result I have secured by means of; the adjustable plate 5. If the ball fits too tight,said plate is by means of the handle-rod 7 screwed upward slightly, and, on the other hand, if the ball is too loose the stem 6 on which the plate is. carried may be screwed downward. A very slight adjustment suffices to secure the proper fit of the ball in the tube. The spiders 9 and 16 are preferably recessed at the sides, as at 10, and do not fill the entire crosssectional area of the tube, so-that after the player has thrown the ball he can use the tube as a sort of trumpet byplacing it to his mouth to give signalsto the other player, or, if desired, the spiders may be left with entire edges, as shown at 11 in Fig. 4, and a central passage 12, formed longitudinally through the ball-rest 13 and its, handle 14. A whistle 15 may then beset in said passage, if further desired, so as to be blown by the player. 7

Obviously other means of securing frictional engagements of the ball in the tube may be used, such as leaf-springs 17 on the inner side, as shown in Fig. 5. Furthermore, it is not indispensable that the tube be conical or tapering for the ball to enter, but it may have an enlarged mouth of any shape, as shown in Fig. '5.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is 1. A game device comprising a long tube having its walls closed or entire, said tube differing in diameter at its opposite ends and being adapted at its larger end to receive a ball, and means within said tube for effecting a frictional engagement of the ball therewith, said means being located at such a distance from the larger end of the tube that the ball will be wholly inclosed and a considerable portion of the length of the tube will project beyond said ball.

2. A game device comprisinga long tapering tube having closed walls, a ball adapted to wedge frictionally in said tapered tube intermediate of its ends, and an adjustable stop for limiting inward progress of said ball and thus regulating its frictional engagement with the walls.

3. A game device comprising a tapered tube, a ball adapted to wedge itself in said tube at a distance from the larger end, a fixed bridge in the smaller portion of said tube, and a stop screwing in said bridge to limit inward movement of the ball and so regulate its frictional engagement with the walls.

4. A game device comprising a tapered tube, a balladapted to wedge inside said tube against the Walls thereof, a fixed bridge beyond the said wedging-point in the smaller end of the tube, a guide in the smaller extremity of the tube, and a stop screwing in said fixed bridge and having its inner end adapted to engage the ball, the opposite end of said stop extending through said guide and having a finger-piece accessible at the small end of the tube.

5. A game apparatus comprising a tapered tube, a ball adapted to enter the larger end of the tube and frictionally engage the walls thereof intermediate of the ends of the tube, a stop extending in through the smaller end of the tube to engage the ball and having a threaded shank, and fixed bearings for said shank, the apparatus presenting an open airpassage from end to end when the ball is removed.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 3d day of November, 1902.

JOHN L. HOLMSTROM.

Witnesses:

GUSTAF F. ERICSON, CHARLES LARSON. 

